!"#$%"&#'("&)*+(,'()(-',&)*.//(,'&#'("*0'/1&)*+(,'()(-2*3(%4'"-* 5%(16*3578 * * VISUAL SOCIOLOGY******91)2*:7;<* =$>/)$##$%*(?*#@$*!+.* Issue 8, July 2014 * 0'/1&)*+(,'()(-2*5%(16*A3578B !"#$%#$&' * CD#%$E$*0'/1&)*5$(-%&6@2 * 5$##'"-*#(*N"(>O*91L2*P&"1%******************** * C#@',/*'"*0'/1&)* I$/$&%,@ * ******** * ************ 0()1E$*<<* Q(4(@&E&*:7;<*J%(-%&EE$*H* Still from Nuclear Nation Q(4(@&E&*G')E*+,%$$"'"-*G)2$%/ Copyright Atsushi Funahashi * F&))*?(%*G')E/*H*9(1%"&)*.%#',)$/ * ********* * **************** 3 r rlich und gewiss erscheinen; u Bilder lassen die Welt natü t r l r e u t u r K z ehendes herauszufordern. zugleich vermögen sie, Best u n e f Klagenfurter e g n l l ä e r zw. e denen, die sie herstellen b g Ihre Wirkung kann von t i u a l e s i K B Notes From verbreiten, nicht beherrscht werden. Die so entstehen- v den, nicht kalkulierbaren Rezeptionsgeschichten, über Beiträge zur die Bilder in Konstitutionsprozesse politischer Hege- monie verstrickt sind, werden in diesem Band in den visuellen Kultur nen und Autoren suchen Blick genommen. Die Autorin r nach Wegen, um zwischen politischer Theorie bzw. e d ng (Bildwissenschaft, l Philosophie und Bildforschu i Band 3 tik, Kunstgeschichte) zu vermitteln. B Ästhe Die Beiträge widmen sich dem Eigensinn von Bildern r e gemonie und und deren Potenzial, scheinbar Gegebenes wieder zu d He zu setzen. Sie hinter- t öffnen und in neue Beziehung f fragen zudem die Rolle, die Bilder sowohl für die a r die Kraft der Bilder The ng als auch für den Wandel der K Aufrechterhaltu Sicht bar keitsordnungen in diktatorischen wie auch e Welcome to our latest newsletter released to mark the i demokratischen Regimen spielen. d Alice Pechriggl d n u Editor Anna Schober e i n o (Hrsg.) m e g e H ) . g s r H ( l g r I$,$"#)2*J1K)'/@$L*M((4/******** g e i b r o h c h c e P S e a c n i l n A A start of our ISBN 978-3-86962-072-5 Visual Sociology HERBERT VON HALEM VERLAG * (WG03) conference at the World Congress of Sociology Nathansohn and our organising, Yokohama. meeting, this Thanks meeting to yourwill beinvolvement our largest andyet. theIn addition work of toRegev our full programme of films, papers and free workshops (full details inside and at sociology.org/pdfs/wg03Congress wish to highlight: Firstly, following- in2014 our-Visual tradition of linking with local artists, activists and -Sociology-Program.pdf http://www.isa scholars, we are delighted to ), there are 3 key events we- Room 503, 19.30 announce the screening of Nuclear Nation on 17 -22.30 hours) filmmaker Atsushi Funahashi willhttp://nuclearnation.jp/en/ be joining us to sp th Thanks to sponsorship July by the(Auditorium ISA, The Secondly, we are proud to be hosting the award of theeak 2014 about the film and to answer questions. were overwhelmed with excellent submissions so thank you to all who entered. Finally, at the Congress we will bid far Rachel Tanur Prize members to join us to voteewell for your to our new Board Board. and Voting elect a will new take committee. place at Wethe wouldstart of love.our The Businessall committee of our Meeting (Room 417, 16 thank you all for your supportth July at and 19.30 contributions hours). As theover outgoing the past Editor4 years. of Visual Sociolo gy I wish to * * See you in Yokohama! E-J *0'/1&)*+(,'()(-2R*!+.*3578* !//1$*S*91)2*:7;<* Towards Extreme Visual Geographies: visualizing the White Continent Dennis Zuev, Center for Research and Studies in Sociology, CIES-ISCTE, Lisbon, Portugal Email: $(#)(&**+),-./01", ' Our research project ‘Anthropology for Antarctic Tourism’ started in 2012, when my colleague David Picard and I were in the first months of fatherhood with its sleepless nights (we both had daughters in the summer of 2012!). The question we asked ourselves was: “what can two social scientists do in Antarctica?” David has an impressive record of research in anthropology of tourism while I have an equally impressive curiosity about visual sociology and survival potential in subzero locations. Having married our interests in visual methodology, the anthropology of tourism and subzero survival, we finally found ourselves inside PROPOLAR - a very dynamic network of Portuguese natural scientists. Our exploratory research project was called Anthropology of Antarctic tourism culture: practices, plots and narratives. After a session of basic first-aid and subzero survival training, we started packing for the airborne dislocation to the end of the world. On the long flight via Buenos Aires to Ushuaia (the major port of the Antarctic tourism fleet) I read about Mawson, Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott and yes, Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness” and “Kiting across Antarctica”. As I reached Buenos Aires I smiled to myself as I remembered canceling my trip to ISA Forum in the summer 2012. I did not expect I would get here so soon with no less honorable a mission. In Ushuaia we were hosted by Centro Austral de los Investigaciones Scientificos and thanks to the director of CADIC, Jorge Rabassa we commenced our fieldwork by interviewing the staff. These included people who had temporary employment on the Antarctic vessels as lecturers, zodiac-boat drivers and expedition assistants. Although, this was my first time undertaking a joint research project we had the boat in common and, despite many differing personal, rhythmic, food and methodological preferences, we managed to do the work fast, efficiently and share many pleasant moments of joint discoveries and barbecued chorizo. * * ! *0'/1&)*+(,'()(-2R*!+.*3578* * * !"#$%#&'()* * * Ushuaia turned out to be a rather odd location – it is the second most expensive city in Argentina with strange urban construction patterns and a large migrant community from Bolivia and * Ecuador. Ushuia is quite a small town and the silence in the centre is even more striking when there are no cruise ships in harbor. This makes a stark contrast with a kind of ‘tourist-galore’ * when the boats come to port. Add great cakes, snowstorms in the summer, never ceasing winds * and you get a picture of the last town before the White Continent. * * Different Scales of Antartic Seafaring, Dennis Zuev * * * *0'/1&)*+(,'()(-2R*!+.*3578* !//1$*S*91)2*:7;<* !"#$%#&'()* Phenomenology of icebergs, penguins and whalebones My objective was to understand the Antarctic imaginary and investigate the dominant visual tropes in Antarctic tourist photography. The problem for both of us was to catch tourists to talk to us. The usual pattern is for the tourists to arrive, embark and sail off, return, dis-embark and be shuttled straight to the airport. We needed a plan of interception. There are two distinct groups going across Drake Passage – the mainstream people and the last- minute people. The latter group is comprised of mostly young people, who have traveled around South America and come to Ushuaia hoping to find a ‘last-minute deal ’. This brings the price of the Antarctic cruise to “reasonable” 3000 euros (all included, plus a yellow or red parka to take as a souvenir). Later I discovered another rather exclusive group of Antarctic voyagers – the yachtsmen, who go unassisted and thus have a different freedom and view of the continent. The Antarctic Treaty System and International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) regulate the amount of people who can visit, designate the landing sites and issue regulations for conduct when on the continent. It is not known what actually attracts people to pay cosmic sums of money for the trips (some cost 7000 euros upwards). Is it the wildlife? Well, it is not that diverse. The nature and pristine conditions? If so, why not go to Greenland? The Indigenous lifestyle? The only indigenous inhabitants here are the penguins, who are nevertheless humanized through Oscar winning documentaries like March of the Penguins (Stephen Lauren called the film homophobic as it promoted traditional family and rearing patterns). In my view, one of the practices that contributes to the imaginary construction of the Antarctic are the ‘Zodiac cruises’. Zodiac is a rubber boat which enables tourists to approach icebergs, wildlife and glaciers at a different angle and add an adventurous, almost heroic, expedition sensation to the trip. Most of the visualization of the Antarctica and Antarctic experience rotates around the theme of “humanized nature”: the penguins are seen as human like creatures, the icebergs are spoken about as the perfect examples of abstract art in a natural gallery and whalebones are static reminders of once prolific whale-hunting industry. Antarctica is the only land that has no myths of origin but it compensates for this with heroic stories of its first explorers. In contrast to the “gaze” centered approach to tourism, Antarctic tourism is non- ocular centric and engages deeper emotions coming from the response of the other senses. Many interviewees talked about the powerful sounds of calving glaciers and meditating brash ice, the awful smells of penguins and seals, the Antarctic wind caressing and refreshing the skin and the thick morning mist, which concealed the land. Upon seeing this, people would start to cry. * * *0'/1&)*+(,'()(-2R*!+.*3578* * * !"#$%#&'()* * Tourists in the Zodiac with Leopard Seal, Dennis Zuev Antarctic Imaginaries To explore the actual imaginaries of tourists we tried a number of different approaches. I bought postcards in the souvenir shop and tried to ‘harass’ French tourists in distinguished red parkas, relaxing over coffee in the Albatross Hotel. This impromptu focus-group provided some of the best (French) wordings we could get. David found a fellow German countryman who bought a last-minute trip and became our friend and “agent” on one of the cruise ships.